First Look

Abstract—We examine methods used to survey firms on their management and organizational practices. We contrast the strengths and weaknesses of "open-ended questions" (e.g., World Management Survey) with "closed questions" (e.g., Management and Organizational Practices Surveys). For this type of data, open-ended questions give higher quality responses but are more costly than closed question–based surveys.

Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50727

Abstract—We introduce a new measure of emerging market sovereign credit risk: the local currency credit spread, defined as the spread of local currency bonds over the synthetic local currency risk-free rate constructed using cross-currency swaps. We find that local currency credit spreads are positive and sizable. Compared with credit spreads on foreign currency–denominated debt, local currency credit spreads have lower means, lower cross-country correlations, and lower sensitivity to global risk factors. We discuss several major sources of credit-spread differentials, including positively correlated credit and currency risk, selective default, capital controls, and various financial market frictions.

Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51088

Abstract—We provide new evidence on the agency theory of corporate tax avoidance (Slemrod, 2004; Crocker and Slemrod, 2005; Chen and Chu, 2005) by showing that increases in institutional ownership are associated with increases in tax avoidance. Using the Russell index reconstitution setting to isolate exogenous shocks to institutional ownership, as well as a regression discontinuity design that facilitates sharper identification of treatment effects, we find a significant and discontinuous increase in tax avoidance following Russell 2000 inclusion. The tax avoidance involves the use of tax shelters, and immediate benefits include higher profit margins and the likelihood of meeting or beating analyst expectations. Collectively the results shed light on the effect of increased ownership concentration on tax avoidance.

Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51123

Abstract—Customer reviews submitted at Internet travel portals are an important yet underexplored new resource in obtaining feedback on customer experience for the hospitality industry. These data are often voluminous and unstructured, presenting analytical challenges for traditional tools that were designed for well-structured, quantitative data. We adapt methods from natural language processing and machine learning to illustrate how the hotel industry can leverage this new data source by performing automated evaluation of the quality of writing, sentiment estimation, and topic extraction. By analyzing 5,830 reviews from 57 hotels in Moscow, Russia, we find that (i) negative reviews tend to focus on a small number of topics, whereas positive reviews tend to touch on a greater number of topics; (ii) negative sentiment inherent in a review has a larger downward impact than corresponding positive sentiment; and (iii) negative reviews contain a larger variation in sentiment on average than positive reviews. These insights can be instrumental in helping hotels achieve their strategic, financial, and operational objectives.

Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51110

Abstract—The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), passed in 2010, contained a number of provisions with potential to directly or indirectly affect cancer care. Value for patients was widely discussed throughout the bill, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) indicated that CMS embraces value as a priority. Nonetheless, serious questions remain as to whether the ACA has improved the value Americans receive in cancer care. Value in cancer care balances outcomes that matter to patients and the costs incurred to achieve those outcomes. Here we review the goals of each cancer provision of the ACA and discuss the effects each has had to date.

Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51115

Abstract—The practice and teaching of business strategy today exist largely as a set of alternative views and frameworks not entirely connected to one another. These notes contribute an integrated sequence of steps for creating or evaluating a strategy and associated company design. These notes also draw clear lines from these things to quantitative and evidence-based evaluation of enterprise performance and to financial valuation. The approach is generalizable to any modern industry. The materials, wholly consistent with what is known from modern research and graduate school training, are geared towards practical application by managers or pedagogical application by instructors of MBAs and executive MBAs.

Download working paper: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51126

Abstract—The mirroring hypothesis predicts that organizational ties within a project, firm, or group of firms (e.g., communication, collocation, employment) will correspond to the technical patterns of dependency in the work being performed. A thorough understanding of the phenomenon is difficult to achieve because relevant work is scattered across multiple fields. This paper presents a unified picture of mirroring in terms of theory, evidence, and exceptions. First, we formally define mirroring and argue that it is an approach to technical problem solving that conserves scarce cognitive resources. We then review 142 empirical studies, divided by organizational form into (1) industry studies, (2) firm studies, and (3) studies of open collaborative projects. The industry and firm studies indicate that mirroring is a prevalent pattern but not universal. However, there is evidence of a mirroring “trap”: firms focused on the current technical architecture may fall victim to architectural innovations arising outside their boundaries. Thus in technologically dynamic industries, partial mirroring, where knowledge boundaries are drawn more broadly than operational boundaries, is likely to be a superior strategy. Firms can also strategically “break the mirror” in two ways: by implementing modular partitions within their own boundaries or by building relational contracts that support technical interdependency across their boundaries. Finally, in contrast to industry and firm studies, studies of open collaborative projects, most of which focused on software, were not supportive of the hypothesis. We argue that these contradictory results arise because digital technologies make possible new modes of coordination that enable groups to deviate from classical mirroring as seen within firms. This working paper includes Appendix A, which describes our detailed findings by category. Appendix B, a tabular summary of the 142 studies in our sample, is available on request from the authors.

Download working paper: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51030

No abstract available.

Purchase this case:
https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/816018-PDF-ENG

Matthew Bellows founded Yesware, a Boston-based tech startup, to solve a problem that he'd encountered as a sales manager: sales people hate entering data, rarely do it accurately, and almost always input data that can't be synthesized in a way that is useful for the manager. Together with a friend, he developed software to solve this problem—while also working towards the goal of founding a company that would be "the best place to work." But as the company grows past $5 million in annual revenue, Bellows faces challenges balancing the dual goals of continuing to scale the company and adhering to the values established for the company.

Purchase this case:
https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/816039-PDF-ENG

No abstract available.

Purchase this case:
https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/816059-PDF-ENG

In 2015, Apple CEO Tim Cook debuted the iPhone 6S with enhanced security measures that enflamed a debate on privacy and public safety around the world. The iPhone 6S, amid a heightened concern for privacy following the 2013 revelation of clandestine U.S. surveillance programs, employed a default encryption system that prevented both Apple and government authorities from accessing data stored on the device. Law enforcement officials warned that the encryption hindered investigations for criminal cases and international terrorism and called on Apple to build a backdoor, a way to bypass the encryption. But Cook maintained that any backdoor would compromise customers' privacy and security. In 2016, a federal judge ordered Apple to provide technical assistance to unlock the iPhone used by one of the two terrorists who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. Apple refused to comply with the order and asked the government to withdraw its demand. As the court case unfolded, Cook considered his responsibilities to the U.S. government as well as to Apple's customers, employees, and shareholders.

Purchase this case:
https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/316069-PDF-ENG